2021.11.26 Il Presepe nell'arte - libro di Rosa Giorigi

CHURCH

Christmas 2024 - Let us open the doors of our hearts to Christ

The birth of Jesus is the most powerful sign and message of hope in a world darkened by the shadows of fear and uncertainty. For Christmas 2024, at the beginning of the Jubilee of Hope, Vatican Radio has asked Catholic leaders for their reflections on the theme, “The peace of Christ in a war-torn world.” Today’s message comes from Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-Sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy.

Christmas Message of Lazarus You Heung-sik

To the shepherds living in the fields, the angel of the Lord proclaimed, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people."

What is this good news of great joy for all, but that the Savior has been born for us, who is the Messiah and Lord?

Listen to Cardinal You's Christmas Message

The ancient prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled: "A Child has been born for us, a Son given to us, and he is named Prince of Peace." Let us welcome Him and open our hearts to the Prince of Peace. Jesus, our brother. And the door of our salvation has come to make His home with us, to give us His Father as our Father and His mother as our mother, thus revealing the tender love of God.

The good news of the birth of Christ, the light of the world, fills us with hope as we prepare to open the Holy Door for the Jubilee Year that is upon us. Let us open the door of our heart to the peace that the Christ Child brings each one of us.

As Jesus would later say to His disciples, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."

May this Christmas and the Jubilee Year, as Pope Francis wrote in the Bull of Indiction, be for everyone, a moment of genuine personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the door of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere, and to all as our hope.